Virgin Atlantic flight to Attempt a 'non-standard' Landing , Happening now.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

They almost certainly transferred at least some from the right wing to the left. Amazing landing though.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: Zaphod58

Do you think they may have dumped fuel only from the starboard and center tanks to have some ballast on the side of the aircraft without gear failure to help cantilever it on touchdown?

From personal knowledge they dump (or fly in circles) till they are coming in on fumes, why add fire to the equation if you can remove most fuel?

Zaph is right that they usually dump fuel over 10,000. But if it's a bad enough situation they will start dumping immediately. A few years ago there was a Kalitta Air 747 that successively lost 2 engines on take off and pretty much started dumping while they were still rotating. This wasn't one of those really bad situations though.

a reply to: justwanttofly

Amsterdam?

a reply to: wulff

Dumping almost all of your gas is a bad idea. Most of it, yeah, but "coming in on fumes" doesn't leave you a whole lot of options. You still want at least enough gas to make a few approaches if you have too.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Bogota. There was a really good write up that was done that showed how well the crew responded and did everything they could to save the airplane. I'll try to find it.

a reply to: justwanttofly

Oh right. I forgot about that one. Didn't the one in Amsterdam lose power too? But they were at V1, and wound up coming back down on the runway.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Do you mean the Brussels incident? They had a bird strike and aborted over V1. Wound up overrunning the threshold.

a reply to: justwanttofly

Oh that's right. It's hard to keep them all straight sometimes.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Here is the write up of the Bogota crash: www.flyingmag.com...

Well there's your problem!

a reply to: justwanttofly

Jesus that's amazing. Best CRM I've read. Even beats 232.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yeah. It's a case study on why thorough pre-departure briefings are so important. And prior familiarization was definitely their friend.

a reply to: justwanttofly

Oh yeah. They would have been dead without knowing the area, and the predeparture briefing plan.

I laughed when he said he was relieved at losing #1 because of not having to deal with differential thrust. Not the feeling I'd have I think.

Virgin Atlantic mechanics violated established procedures while changing the gear actuator for that main the night before the flight. Instead of using a sling or other method of supporting the actuator (80 pounds) two mechanics chose to hold the actuator in place by hand. Then a pin was missing which resulted in them holding it for 30+ minutes.

The actuator was installed upside down, which resulted in the hydraulic lines being hooked up wrong. When the gear was cycled to the up position after takeoff, one of the lines to the new actuator deformed and leaked, resulting in the initial loss of hydraulic pressure that they eye returning for. The loss of pressure and improperly installed actuator allowed the main gear to fall against the gear door, jamming that gear.


www.flightglobal.com...

a reply to: wulff

Wow and they are already blaming Boeing. They say that the actuator had no markings telling which way it was to be installed and that there were not different hydraulic fittings to prevent it from being hooked up wrong.

a reply to: JIMC5499

Of course. They'd have to take responsibility otherwise and no one does that anymore.

a reply to: Zaphod58

747-400s have been around for years. This is the first time that I've heard of this happening. Maybe one or two pints at lunch might be the issue.

a reply to: JIMC5499

I think the AAIB is right and after 30+ minutes of holding it up they just didn't give a crap anymore.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I don't know how things work in the UK, but, over here you would get busted for not following proper procedure. Do you want to bet that the sling they didn't use would only hold the actuator in the correct position?